Virginia Rowe will retire from MindShare North America at the end of the month, where she is currently senior partner and print director. Rowe, who is leaving the business to pursue personal interests, is a 25-year industry vet. She directs MindShare's print group, overseeing clients like Gillette, Bristol Myers Squibb and American Express. The trade mag named her an "All-Star" in 2004, and she has a reputation for being straightforward and willing to come up with solutions when negotiations hit a roadblock. Rowe started her career in 1981 as a planner at McCaffrey & McCall, moving to Warwick …

Drug companies will pony up millions of dollars in new fees next year so federal health officials can review their TV ads before they air. Under the plan, the companies would pay the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a one-time fee on top of charges for each television ad submitted for review--$6.25 million in fiscal year 2008. The fees help the FDA analyze the growing number of TV drug ads for misleading claims and other problems before they air. The ruling goes with proposed legislation that would renew other industry funding for FDA drug reviews through 2012 …

Ryan Seacrest's production company is working up a reality series for E! Entertainment Television that features young folks living and working in Las Vegas. The show "Paradise City," will debut the first week of March and will shadow people like Jenner Evans, who's trying to launch an online magazine she describes as "Maxim for women" and Jack LaFleur, a party promoter at the Hard Rock Hotel. Seacrest says that since many young people relocate to Las Vegas, drawn to the variety of careers possible in the entertainment business, the producers want to show viewers the "off-Strip" …

A year and change after it consolidated its $600 million account with agencies of Omnicom Group, Bank of America moved a piece of it back to rival Interpublic Group. Hill Holliday Connors Cosmopulos was awarded the account for the Global Wealth and Investment Management division. It had been at Doremus and the shift came without a review. It was the fall of 2005 when the bank settled its marketing business on Omnicom, but the trade magazine, citing unnamed sources, reports that Anne Finucane--named the bank's chief marketing officer last year--is less a fan of the holding-company model than …

NBC Universal will launch Chiller, a new horror-themed cable net that will be a standard and HD cable channel along with VOD and a broadband Website, on March 1. The new channel, which already has carriage on DirecTV, will air mostly scary old TV shows and movies, including "Tales From the Crypt." "The Shining," and "Psycho." The company has tried this before with Sleuth, a crime-focused effort that mainly uses content from the NBCU library and is now in 24 million homes after just a year. But the field is getting a bit crowded, as Comcast …

NBC may have taken top honors, but ABC is creeping up fast on first prize for the most prime-time violence, according to the Parents Television Council. According to a study from the pressure group about the 2006 season called "Dying to Entertain," NBC had the most violent incidences per hou--at 6.79, an 83% rise from the previous season. While ABC had just 3.8, that is an increase of 155%. "We have not yet reviewed the report," says ABC. "But we are confident that our extensive standards review of all of our programming insures acceptable content for our …

Bravo has signed a raft of new sponsors for an upcoming competition series with GMC, LendingTree.com, Bacardi Limon and Thomasville Furniture already on board. Both GMC and Bacardi have special integration deals with the "Top Design" series, with the 2007 Acadia slated to appear throughout. Bacardi Limon is featured in one of the design challenges. The alcohol marketer will also roll out in-store promotions in support. LendingTree.com is putting up the $100,000 grand prize designed to help the winner kick-start his or her career. Bravo also has a pact with Elle Décor magazine, which supplies editor-in-chief Margaret …

Office supply chain Staples has put its $100 million media account into review, but current agency MediaCom has been invited to participate. The retailer sent out a request for proposals to potential new hires earlier this week. "As a part of Staples' normal course of business, we review agency relationships on a periodic basis to make sure we are best meeting our evolving business needs," says a Staples spokeswoman. The review is being run by Marjorie Shaw, director-media services. Staples spent $91 million on advertising across all media in the first three quarters of 2006. according …

ConAgra is rolling out a new campaign for Orville Redenbacher gourmet popcorn that features a digital re-creation of the brand's founder more than 10 years after he died. The effort, from Crispin Porter + Bogusky, will premiere on the Golden Globe Awards broadcast next week. For the last year or so, the company has periodically been running a classic commercial from 1976 that has Redenbacher challenging the audience to compare his product with others, promising they will "taste the difference or my name isn't Orville Redenbacher." The only addition the agency made to that 30-year-old spot …

A Buffalo Bills fan's idea for an ad promoting the National Football League will air during the Super Bowl. Gino Bona was one of 1,700 people who auditioned concepts at stadiums this fall, and his idea was the winner. A director of business development for a Portland, Maine, marketing firm, Bona says he used his own "pathetic emotions" to come up with the idea for a tongue-in-cheek take on the sadness fans feel when the season ends. "I think NFL fans are like me," says Bona. "We get depressed when we think about what Sundays are going to …